


Shadow of a Doubt

by Yastach



Category: Scott Pilgrim (Comics), Scott Pilgrim - All Media Types, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Other, Side Story, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 03:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yastach/pseuds/Yastach
Summary: Lucas Lee and Matthew Patel began to have second thoughts about blindly following Gideon’s orders to kill Scott Pilgrim.





	Shadow of a Doubt

It had been a long day of shooting on the set of Lucas Lee’s latest blockbuster movie. The ruggedly handsome actor now sat alone in his trailer attempting to decompress. He took a long drag on his cigarette and sighed. Even after all these months, he still had no idea how he had been persuaded to join the League of Evil Exes. 

Lucas remembered when Gideon Graves had first approached him about forming the league. The bespectacled, dark haired businessman had been so engaging and his plot against Ramona had been so flawless that Lucas had immediately agreed to take part. He had convinced Lucas that if he destroyed Ramona’s current object of affection, she would experience the same pain that she put him through. However, it didn’t take long for the flaws in the plan to surface. As the deadline to enact Gideon’s revenge quickly approached, Lucas felt himself wracked with crippling doubt. He honestly didn't want to kill Scott Pilgrim at all now.

He had finally started to come to terms with Ramona breaking his heart over ten years ago. It took a while, but Lucas now realized being dumped was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. The rage and humiliation had spurred him to become the mega star that he was now. 

Lucas was so lost in thought that he barely noticed the slight knocking at his door. He frowned, “Come in, it’s not locked.”

The door creaked open and Matthew Patel slidled in. His haphazard eye makeup was extra dark and contrasted sharply against his tanned skin. He was dressed in his drab army coat, combat boots and typical red and black striped shirt. His messy, black mop of asymmetrical hair looked extra greasy. Almost immediately Matthew’s entourage of demonic hipster chicks began to swarm into the room.

Lucas leapt to his feet in horror, “Nope nope, THOSE stay outside! We talked about this! NO HIPSTER DEMONS IN THE TRAILER!”

Several of the scantily-clad, blue-skinned creatures hissed at Lucas as they gathered around their master. With a sigh, Matthew motioned for them to leave. As soon as they were out of the trailer, he closed the door behind them. 

Matthew turned to Lucas, “They're quite harmless, you know.”

“One of them bit one of my stunt doubles.” Lucas frowned, “Do you really have to bring them everywhere you go?”

“…I am their master… so… yes?”

“Whatever.” Lucas sat down on his bed, “What do you want?”

“Gideon wants to see us.”

"Are you his personal messenger now?" Lucas joked, "He could have just called me."

Matthew flipped his long hair out of his face, “He texted me and since I was in the area, I told him I’d pass along the message.”

“I can’t just drop everything and go all the way to his mansion on a whim. That’s at least a 30 minute trip by car.” Lucas said annoyed, “I’m supposed to be having a meeting about tomorrow’s shoot in an hour.”

“Just tell the crew you’ll be late.” Matthew replied, “It’s not like they can make the movie without you.”

“I’m ALWAYS late for my crew meetings because of stuff like this.” Lucas grumbled, “Did he even tell you what this is about, or is it another surprise?”

Matthew raised the one eyebrow that was visible, “Is everything okay, Lucas? You seem more bitter than usual.”

“I’m just over it.” He replied, “I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.”

“…what is that supposed to mean?”

“The League.” Lucas threw up his hands dramatically, “What is this even for anyway?”

Matthew grimaced, “For revenge of course. Did you forget what Ramona did to us?”

“Of course not… but is it really worth killing some guy over?” He paused, “I mean… this Scott Pilgrim guy, she’s just going to dump him too.”

“Whether she’s going to dump him or not isn’t the point. Killing him now will cause her to suffer. Do you NOT want her to feel the agony of losing someone she loves?”

Lucas looked away and said nothing. 

Matthew's voice softened, “Lucas, you can’t seriously be having second thoughts about this now. We’ve come too far.”

“No we haven’t. No one has died yet.” He said with a frown, “I just don’t think we really thought this through.”

“Are you saying you want out of the League?”

His words were so abrupt that it caught Lucas off guard. When he looked at Matthew he could see the concern in his single uncovered eye.

“Well?” Matthew demanded.

“…I don’t know… maybe.”

“Lucas, you can’t just quit the League…" There was fear in his voice, "Gideon would never let you leave.” 

Lucas chuckled, “Are you actually scared of him?”

“You should be too. You know as well as I do what he’s capable of.”

Lucas leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, “Matt, If you could just walk away from this… would you?”

The plea in Lucas’ clear blue eyes was too much for Matthew. As much as he hated to admit it, he also had began to wonder if any of this was worth it. He wasn’t even sure he was still angry at being dumped anymore.

Infuriated at his internal struggle, his words came through gritted teeth. “Stop it, Lucas.”

“We could just leave.” Lucas continued quietly, “… with my money and your mystical powers… we could disappear. Gideon would never find us.”

“G-Gideon would always find us.” Matthew stuttered, “And he’d send the entire wrath of the rest of the League to punish us for leaving.”

“Well if you're too afraid to leave, I guess I could just go.”

Matthew's eyes were wild with panic, “No! You can’t leave!”

“I’m not afraid of Gideon.”

“If you left, he’d make us ALL hunt you down for disobeying you. It would be a seek and destroy mission.” Matthew clenched his fists, “I would have no choice but to obey, I d-don’t want to have to kill you, Lucas.”

Lucas was surprised at the emotion pouring forth from Matthew. The awkward emo boy was so upset that he was actually trembling. He knew Matthew cared about him, but he didn't realize just how strong of an attachment it was until that moment. 

Lucas stood and walked over to where his friend was standing. Matthew immediately shrank back and avoided eye contact. 

“Matt.. I know you’re scared, but you're a powerful warlock." Lucas said gently, "Even if they did come after us, I think we could take them on.”

“No…I just can’t…"

The demonic hipster chicks outside could sense their master’s distress and were fighting the urge to tear down the walls of the trailer. Matthew took a deep breath to regain his composure.

“C-can we please just stick to the plan? We will just kill Scott and then…”

“And then what?” Lucas asked, “What happens to us once we’ve fufilled Gideon’s plan? Will we have to be at his beck and call forever?”

Matthew began to fidget nervously. He hadn’t really thought of what would happen after they killed Scott. The demonic hipster chicks outside the trailer began to howl in earnest. Lucas tried in vain to ignore the sounds of their sharpened nails scraping across the thin metal.

Lucas chose his words carefully, “If we leave now, we can just go back to our regular lives and forget about all of this.”

“My life wasn’t that g-great before I joined up with the League.” Matthew’s stutter was getting worse the more nervous he became, “Or did you forget I used to work at Dairy Queen and lived with m-my mother?”

“I promise you won’t have to go back to Dairy Queen.” Lucas soothed, “I don’t even know if there will be Dairy Queens where we’re going.”

“We’d have to go into hiding. Forever.” Matthew shook his head, “…Lucas, this is insane.”

A low buzzing noise emanated from Matthew’s pocket. Still trembling, he reached in and pulled out his phone. It was a text from Gideon.

He licked his dry lips nervously, “I-It’s Gideon. He wants to know where we are.”

“Tell him we’re on our way.”

Matthew hesitated, “…are we?”

“Yeah. It will be for the last time.”

Matthew's hands were shaking too badly to reply to the text so he just stood there with his fingers clenched around his phone.

Lucas held out his hand, “Give me the phone, I’ll reply.”

As Lucas texted Gideon, a very agitated Matthew began to pace the length of the trailer.

“… what if we leave after we kill Scott?” Matthew rambled, “Gideon will have what he wants… he won’t have any reason to send the League after us.”

Lucas hit send on the text, “I don’t want to have to kill anyone.”

“You might not have to.” He replied, “He wants me to face Scott first… I think I can defeat him.”

Lucas frowned, "When was this decided?"

"I'm Ramona's first ex. He wants us to go in order."

"Of course he does." He rolled his eyes, "l guess I'm next if you don't defeat him then. When was Gideon going to tell me about our fighting order?"

"Maybe tonight?"

“This is stupid. Neither of us should have to kill anyone.” Lucas handed the phone back to Matthew, “That was why I wanted to leave now.”

“I already sent the email.” Matthew said sheepishly, “Scott will be expecting me.” 

Lucas was visibly confused, “What email?”

“To Scott. In it I explained about our upcoming fight." Matthew explained, "Oh and it listed where the fight was to take place. I thought it would be more sporting than just showing up at random and trying to kill him.”

“What if he brings backup?”

“Oh… yeah I didn’t think of that.” He frowned, “Well I’ll have my demonic hipster chicks with me so I guess it’s only fair.”

“You don’t have to show up.” Lucas replied, “The email may have not even gone through… or went to his junk folder.”

“Lucas, it’s done. You can’t talk me out of it.” Matthew snapped, “Now let’s go before I get another text from Gideon.”

Matthew opened the door. His demonic entourage screeched with joy upon seeing their master. He lingered a moment in the door frame, “The sooner we do what Gideon wants, the sooner this will be over with. J-just promise you won't leave without me.”

“I won’t.” Lucas replied, “Come on, we’ll take my car.”

End


End file.
